Onlookers captured the incident on mobile phones wherein a Zen Estilo, driven by the accused, is seen carrying 35-year-old Rajesh Diwan on the roof of the car while he held on to the window frames.

Representative image/Reuters

New Delhi: Things became life-threatening for 35-year-old Rajesh Diwan on Thursday evening when he was allegedly driven around on the roof of a car for around 6 km near Sahibabad.

As per initial reports, the incident was a result of road rage, after the victim had tried to stop the accused’s car. Local police officials stated that the man who drove him around has been arrested.

Onlookers captured the incident on mobile phones wherein a Zen Estilo, driven by the accused, is seen carrying Diwan on the roof of the car while he held on to the window frames.

Diwan, a resident of Pitampura in Delhi, is the purchase manager of a Gurugram-based export house.

Police officials said the accused, 30-year-old Bhuwan Kumar Sharma, works as a legal practitioner and is a resident of Raj Nagar Extension.

According to Diwan, the incident took place around 7pm on Thursday. A report in the Hindustan Times quoted him as saying: “I had come to Ghaziabad to meet a friend and was waiting at a traffic signal in Sahibabad. The accused arrived in his car and banged my Swift Dzire from the rear. The accused started to reverse and flee. When I came out of the car and tried to stop him, he abused me and fled. I then decided to give chase, and soon, near Raj Nagar Extension, I overtook his car.”

Diwan said the scuffle turned ugly when he stood in front of Sharma’s car and asked him to stop. He said Sharma accelerated and tried to mow him down. “I climbed to the bonnet of his car but he continued to drive. In order to save myself, I climbed on to the roof of his car. But he kept driving at a speed of 80kmph and above.”

A group of commuters chased the speeding car while it raced on the Raj Nagar Extension Road towards GT Road. Diwan said he allegedly banged his knees repeatedly on the windscreen in order to persuade the accused to stop his car, but in vain.

According to the police, the car came to a halt near the Meerut crossing due to a traffic jam. The onlookers pulled Sharma out of the car and beat him up him before handing him over to the police.

Diwan alleged that he approached the local police but they sent him to the Sahibabad police station under whose jurisdiction the incident had initially started. An FIR pertaining to the incident was registered around 12:44am on November 9.

Dinesh Yadav, station house officer, Sahibabad police station, said the accused had been arrested and booked under IPC sections for attempt to murder, rash driving on public way, causing damage and causing hurt by act endangering life or personal safety of others.